Lithuania
Sweden
This was the afternoon **Sweden** turned promise into ruthless end product. The shapes were familiar from their narrow loss to the Czechs a week ago, but here the tempo, polish and finishing aligned. They played on top of the gain line, recycled at pace and repeatedly found the edge. When the game loosened, they looked even more dangerous. Sixty away points don’t arrive by accident.
For **Lithuania**, it was another long day without the ball. They carried hard enough in bursts and found some joy in broken field, but their defensive spacing and collision work weren’t at the level required. Too many first-up misses, too many soft shoulders, and too much scramble. Whenever they did apply some pressure, an exit error or a penalty undid it and handed Sweden a runway to attack again.
The contest really swung on ruck speed. With **Jack Tatu Robertsson** delivering snappy ball and **Joar Blanck** playing flat, Sweden forced Lithuania to fold around the corner at a clip they couldn’t match. **Axel Kalling-Smith** straightened nicely in traffic, **Hannes Nylén** picked smart lines off his shoulder, and the back three were clinical when space appeared. Lithuania’s edge defenders were often disconnected; once Sweden got two passes away with front-foot ball, it felt like a linebreak was coming.
That doesn’t mean Sweden were perfect. They coughed up 22, and some of that was self-inflicted. A couple of overambitious offloads in their own half and a few penalties in the middle third gave Lithuania entries, and the hosts didn’t turn down invitations. **Domantas Stravinskas** and **Ervidas Bakutis** carried with intent and got them moving north-south; when Lithuania kept it tight for three or four phases, they did disrupt Sweden’s line speed and earned collisions. The problem was stringing those passages together. Too often, an inaccurate pass or a slow clean gave Sweden a jackal look and the chance to flip field with one kick.
Sweden’s pack provided the platform their backs cashed. **Christopher Vannerberg** was a reliable source of go-forward off nine and ten, while **Nils Granath**’s work over the ball slowed Lithuania at the moments they looked like building. In the tight, **Daniel Cutler** and **Elias Granath** gave them stability and plenty of energy on kick-chase; that pressure turned Lithuania’s exits messy more than once and fed the visitors repeat possessions in the right areas. From there, the decision-making was calm. Blanck mixed in contestable kicks when Lithuania pinched narrow and went to width when the fold was late. The variety mattered.
When Lithuania did fire, it tended to be off chaos. A loose Swedish touch or a midfield spill woke them up, and their best sequences came with **Augustas Jucevicius** and **Ignas Keraminas** attacking fractured fields. They found Sweden’s fringe defence a touch eager and slipped tackles when the visitors lost shape. But Lithuania couldn’t live on turnover ball, and their structured attack lacked the same clarity. Too many one-out carries in the red zone, not enough deception around the corner, and Sweden read the pictures. You can’t bully a defence that’s set when your cleanouts are a beat late.
The restart battle also told a story. After Lithuania scored, they struggled to nail the next act. Sweden reclaimed or pinned them and immediately flipped momentum. That’s discipline and detail: chasers connected, first carry dominant, two quick phases and the kick to space. Lithuania, by contrast, too often kicked long without a chase or failed to find grass, inviting Sweden’s counter. With **Mattias Nilsson** tidy under the high ball and decisive on return, the visitors turned routine receipts into dangerous launches.
Individually, Sweden had balance across the park. Blanck’s tempo and touchlines management were decisive, **Kalling-Smith** set the tone with direct, efficient carries, and Vannerberg’s short, square carries kept the defence honest. Out wide, **Samuel Ekfeldt** and **Setanta Macaodha** profited from clean ball and accurate passing rather than miracle plays. Up front, **Armir Kozhani**’s throwing gave them a steady platform, which mattered because Sweden’s best work flowed from set piece control into multi-phase pressure rather than from scrums or mauls blowing doors off.
There is challenge in the margin. At 22–60, it’s emphatic, but not flattering. Sweden earned it with coherence and pace, and they left points out there. The work-on is obvious: tighten discipline in the middle third and tidy a few overplays when the game is already theirs. For Lithuania, this is another harsh lesson after Germany. The fix starts with the tackle. Win the collision more often, get bodies past the ball at the breakdown, and connect on the edge. Their attack showed enough punch to keep them in matches if they can spend more time in the right end of the field and make exits a non-event.
In Trophy terms, Sweden look like a side growing into themselves after the narrow opener — shape is there, the finishing now too. Lithuania need a simpler, more stubborn blueprint: kick to contest, squeeze the set piece, and take the air out of games. Until they can slow opponents’ ruck and tidy their spacing, they’ll keep giving good teams too much grass to run into.